August new home sales second lowest in recorded history-AP

9/24, "Pace of new home sales second slowest on record," AP, Alan Zibel

"New homes sold at the second-slowest pace on record in August, signaling that the housing market will remain a drag on the economy....

Sales were down by 29 percent from the same month a year earlier.

• Normally the building industry powers economic recoveries.
  

Each new home built creates, on average, the equivalent of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

• But housing has been at the center of this downturn and it shows no signs of recovering quickly.

The only time new home sales were slower was in May, when the sales pace was 282,000. That's the worst pace on records dating back to 1963. July's results had been the worst on record, but were adjusted upward.

"This is a pitiful performance but

• it should not come as a surprise to see sales so weak,"

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics."...

• via 106.5fm Mobile, Ala.

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